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When the average person is confronted with a need for some type of health care, the question about whether money matters doesn't come up. Faced with such need, we all know that money affects the quality of doctors you can access, the quality of medical facility you can check into, and even the type and quality of medicines that may be available for your care.

Yet some people question whether money matters in education. Of course it matters. And research on the role funding plays in providing access to good schools is conclusive.

At one time, these skeptics included representatives of high-wealth schools that already spent more than most districts in the state. But many of them found that recent funding cuts prevented even them from providing quality education for all of their students.

Other school-funding critics complain that some schools do not provide enough return for increased investment — citing low academic achievement, dropout rates or lack of college success among some high school graduates.

Others simply may be people who do not believe that states should provide anything but minimal services — including in education.

But research on school funding has found that money does make a difference in improving school quality. Data on improving high school graduation rates and increasing college enrollments, taken in light of previous state increases in funding for public education, show that increased investment has led to increased return.

Unlike many states that struggle with very limited financial bases, Texas has abundant resources at its disposal. Texas ranks second only to California in personal income and ahead of states like New York and Florida.

Texas is wealthy enough to offer billions in tax breaks for many businesses and thought itself so well off it didn't even revisit its tax breaks until someone noticed and brought it to state leaders' attention.

In a state that is so steeped in resources one might understandably expect that its public education system would be among the finest in the country. Our student population is only second to California in size, and about half of recent national growth in school-age youth was based in Texas.

But when it comes to money for schools, Texas is downright cheap. Texas is next to last in funding per student, down from 46th in 2011, before recent school-funding cuts were adopted. In Texas, a quarter of students do not graduate on time. The state ranks only 33rd in average teacher salaries. An estimated three-quarters of fourth-graders (72 percent) and of eighth-graders (73 percent) were rated as below proficient in reading in national exams. And in math, more than half (60 percent) of eighth-graders had scores below proficient levels.

Money would and could make a difference if the state made the investment and then worked with local communities to ensure it was used effectively. After hearing months of testimony, a state district judge ruled that the state public school funding system was both unfair and underfunded.

Researchers who have looked at the cost of not educating young people or at undereducating them have seen that failure to invest in schools leads to a number of different costs — some obvious, others less so. Among the obvious costs of underfunding schools is lost income. Over their working lives, high school graduates earn about twice that of dropouts, and college graduates earn more than $1 million more than those who do not attend college. High school graduates pay one-third more taxes, and college graduates pay four times more than non-high school graduates. Less income for undereducated workers means less in taxes paid, and everyone's taxes have to be higher to make up for the losses.

Health care costs also are impacted by educational levels. Lifetime public health care costs for high school dropouts average about $60,000, while high school graduates require less than $30,000, and college graduates — who can afford health insurance — average less than $5,000 over their lifetimes. Public assistance costs are impacted as well.

Research has long noted that as income rises, social support costs are reduced. The great majority of undereducated people are law-abiding citizens, but the majority of individuals in the nation's criminal justice system are students who did not finish high school, with average costs for a single year averaging about $40,000.

According to national data, Texas ranked 42nd in per pupil spending in 2007, while Massachusetts ranked 8th. Not surprisingly, Texas ranked 36th in fourth-grade reading and 26th in fourth-grade math on national assessments. By contrast, Massachusetts students ranked first in both fourth-grade reading and math. Texas ranked next to last on students completing their high school education, while Massachusetts ranked 18th.

On the number of residents with at least an associate's degree, Texas ranked 38th, compared to Massachusetts, which led the country in this area. On a student's chances of success as a result of its educational programs, Texas received a grade of C, while Massachusetts rated an A-, according to an annual ranking of states by Education Week, “Quality Counts.”

You get what you pay for — or in the case of Texas, what you don't.

Of course money matters, but the investment has to be at the level needed, not what is expedient. Texas has long funded its schools at levels that were politically expedient rather than at levels that reflect real costs of delivering instruction to different students. In fact, no recent study on what it actually costs to provide quality schooling for all students has been done in this state.

Conducting such a study would be a good start, but it will be useless if the public will is not present to make sure that knowledge is put to good use. The Intercultural Development Research Association has launched an initiative to help communities across the state as they take action to make sure that schools are equipped to guarantee that all children graduate ready for college and career. More information about Fair Funding Now! Excellent Schools for All Texas Students is online at www.idra.org.

Investing in education yields great returns on investment. Texas does have high-quality schools available for some of its students, but the future demands that this high quality be available to all.

Albert Cortez, Ph.D., is director of policy at the Intercultural Development Research Association, an independent, nonprofit organization based in San Antonio that is dedicated to assuring educational opportunity for every child.